What makes this even scarier is the amendments to the Data Protection Act that are currently sneaking their way through Parliament, hidden in what seems like an otherwise unremarkable bill. If the Coroners and Justice Bill is made law then "an appropriate Minister...may by order (an “information-sharing order”) enable any person to share information which consists of or includes personal data". There are 'Codes of Practice' which will have to be followed, in theory, but the track-record of this Government on data protection is poor to say the least, and for this reason alone the Coroners and Justice Bill needs some serious changes making to it. To read the Coroners and Justice Bill: http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmbills/009/09009.i-v.html (The bit about Data Protection is in part 8)